For Leigh: Thanks for the great input!!! I've already put my swivels and fish hooks on safety pins and it works GREAT!!!! I am going to add more fishline and some fishing type of cord to my kit.

For DanMcl: SSB means "Single Side Band" and is applicable to HF (High Frequency) or "Shortwave" radio. The 2meter band has, of late, been reported as "dead". I know that the 2m band is busiest between sunset and sunrise. A great number of the remaining "HAM's" are reported to be using the 14meter band. The inland vessels have gotten rid of the old SSB shortwave sets since cellphones, fax machines, and computor communications are now the norm.

Most inland boats (what I'm on) have two VHF-FM transceivers, one computor with SatCom/Cellphone capability irt intra-office email, one computor with a commercial AirCard (cellphone) for internet access/email, and a cellphone.

Keep in mind that almost every man in the crew has a cellphone with text capability. Many of the crew also carry a notepad with an aircard for internet access which of course includes email.